Firefox Preview 1.0 (Fenix) is now available
Mozilla released Firefox Preview 1.0 for Google's Android operating system on Google Play after publishing an earlier version in May 2019. The organization put a lot of work in the redesigned version of the Firefox web browser and plans to replace the current stable version of Firefox with the new release eventually.
Firefox Preview 1.0 can be downloaded from Google Play. The release is marked as a preview which means that it should be seen as a beta release at this point.
Mozilla plans to push out a release for the current version of Firefox for Android that brings the version to Firefox 68. The mobile browser is moved to the ESR channel then so that it continues to receive security and bug fix updates for as long as it is necessary to get the new Firefox ready.
Mozilla aims to replace the current version of Firefox with the new at the end of 2019. The new version lacks some features that Mozilla wants it to support. The organization made it clear that it won't release the new version until it supports all major features of the old version. One feature that is missing in the preview release is support for browser extensions.
Android users may run both browsers side-by-side if they wish as there are not any limitations that prevent that. The browser requires Android 5.0 or higher while the current version of Firefox for Android earlier (4.x) versions as well).
The start page displays open tabs, collections, information provided by Mozilla, and a search and address form. The address bar that the browser displays at the bottom of the screen is not displayed on the startpage or new tab page.
Firefox Preview uses Google as the default search engine, at least in my region and probably in most regions. A click on Menu > Settings > Search engine provides an option to change the search engine.
The browser includes Amazon, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Twitter, and Wikipedia as default search engines. I could not find an option to add other search engines to the browser.
Firefox switches the interface once you start to type in the field on the startpage. The address and search bar is moved to the top and suggestions are displayed underneath it. Options to scan a QR code to open an URL and to display all other search engines are provided here.
The address field is moved to the bottom of the screen when websites are loaded in the mobile browser. The main idea behind the position is that it is makes one-handed use easier.
A tap on the lock icon next to the address displays connection security information and a toggle to enable or disable tracking protection on the active site. Firefox Preview displays the full address in the address bar; good.
A tap on the menu icon displays an option to open the desktop page of the active site (if available), the Settings, library, and to save the site to Firefox's new Collection feature,
Firefox Preview comes with a handful of useful features and options. If you swipe up from the address bar area you will open a share, bookmark, and reader mode quick actions menu.
Collections look like folders to me that you can put sites into. Collections that you create are placed on the startpage of the browser. There you may open one or all sites of a collection comfortably.
The Settings display a limited number of preferences in the initial release. You can enable or disable Tracking Protection there and modify access permissions.
Tracking Protection is limited at the time as you cannot change lists or add other protective features that Mozilla introduced recently.
The biggest feature that is missing right now, when compared to the feature set of the current version of Firefox for Android, is lack of support for browser extensions.
It is not 100% certain that extensions support will be integrated in Firefox Preview for Android. Mozilla plans to release an ad-blocker for the browser however according to Sören Hentzschel.
Closing Words
Firefox Preview will be the next version of the Firefox browser. Users who run the current Firefox for Android may continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Support will be dropped eventually though.
Now You: Have you tried the new browser version? What is your take?
Fenix is still garbage, WHY, Mozilla?!
Thanks for your post, very helpful!
it works pretty well,
you can disable the protection globally,
and sync your profile and the tab and URL entering is a bit weird at first.
It won’t accept installation of web-extensions yet, which is the main and only reason I’ve put up with Firefox in the first place.. (… having uBlock origin).
Get it here:
https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/mozilla/firefox-fenix/
“1.0” What’s that supposed to mean? Firefox Preview was at “1.0” for a month now. Which build are you even talking about here? Please state the build date. Mine is at 1.0.1926 (build #11790617) Friday June 28th. Prior to this build I was getting ~2 updates per day in the Play Store. Since the release of the specified build I haven’t received any updates at all.
Another Firefox. Tom’s are going wild.
i honestly think that comments at least for firefox topics should straight up be disabled. they do nothing but brings trolls out so they can share their hatred for it with little to no insight into the actual subject being discussed and get others riled up. these “discussions” are really nothing but a cesspool
@michael:
Yes, these stories really do bring out the extremists. However, I can’t go along with you on your “solution”.
Since you see no value in the comments on Firefox-related stories, there’s an easier solution than eliminating the comment section for other people who do find value in it — just skip reading the comments on these stories.
While I think there are certainly people who have legitimate things they don’t like about the state or direction of Firefox as software for reasons having purely having to do with the software itself, I also think a good portion of the Firefox hate is politically driven, and it’s the latter category of stuff that doesn’t belong on a tech site like this. The problem is, which is which is not always obvious (Although sometimes people will come right out and start talking politics).
What I will say is that every time a conservative bashes Firefox devs as “SJWs” and goes on some kind of mildly racist tinged rant to support their dislike of Firefox, it reaffirms my choice to use Firefox. I was away from Firefox for Windows for years and part of my return was that I wanted to give Photon a chance, with the end of the Australis interface and all the other changes, but the other part of it is that I so often heard the refrain that it was the browser for the center-left or the left (Intended by comments as a criticism) that I thought as a good Democrat, it might be the browser for me again. :)
Similarly, Brave is promoted everywhere in every conceivable topic by people who are stopping just short of calling it the official browser for right-wing folks, and that’s stopped me from even wanting to install it to mess around with it and see what it’s like. I also don’t like their core idea of inserting their own advertisements over those of the original websites and the rest of that scheme, or their UI that I see in the screenshots (At least on the Windows version, the Android UI screenshots I’ve seen look alright), but it’s so political in the talk about it.
Anyone miss when technology transcended political considerations and people of different ideologies and parties would often find themselves using the same software because it just wasn’t a political thing? In the old days, if there was politics involved, it was usually stuff that had no politics-as-in-government analog like Windows vs. Mac or proprietary versus libre/open-source software.
When I start it, screen turns blank-white, and something starts to be downloaded in background, stops after 5megs and nothing more happens.
https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/fenix/releases
No play store, ;-)
Haven’t tried it but I’m sure it’s awful, just because.
Still using Focus which is definitely awful. If Focus dies in Mozillaland, we may switch to Fenix, depending on how bad it becomes.
No Chrome under any conditions, it’s far too good.
Useless, telemetry-infested junk. What’s the point even without add-ons. Without an adblocker, I might as well use Chrome.
But wait, wasn’t there an Android Chrome with adblocker? Yep, it’s called Bromite.
https://www.bromite.org/
Probably more privacy-friendly than Firefox by default, too.
Nothing brings out the slap-fighting like an article about a browser on ghacks.
On my tablet (Samsung Tab A 2019 with Android Pie) ) it is very fast in loading and rendering a page compared to Chrome, Firefox for Android, and Opera. Looking forward to extensions, reading mode, and off line reading.
I think so too. Never use Firefox on android that much b/c it was slow and janky compared to chrome, but Fenix is great. If they can add extensions and the other desktop features then I wouldn’t mind switching to Firefox.
So I’ve been using Fenix and the first thing I have to say is that it’s fast. Like, much, much faster than Fenec and sometimes it’s faster than Chrome.
My biggest issues are, obviously, a lack of extensions support (it also doesn’t support AdGuard for Android fully either, though domain blocking does work as long as HTTPS Filtering is disabled), and the fact that closing tabs by swiping is way too difficult.
If this is the Alpha then I have high hopes for when the full, feature-parity release comes out.
I have to agree with you, this new browser is really fast compared to the default browser, some pages load faster than in the Chrome, it’s impressing what a company can do when they see that they’re losing users. I’ve always used Firefox on the PC and the smartphone, Chrome I use more for website translations.
Love the new design, the response seems much snappier and fast. However, if they don’t allow extensions to be added, I probably will not use it.
Telemetry being enabled is fine as long as they’re up front about it. They need the information to make the browser better.
You’d think Moz could have thought of something a little more original for the new browser name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenix
Bad UI, Horrible Setting Menu and Bad customization. I Recommend Brave Browser or Kiwi and Old Firefox on Android not Fenix. Fenix Looks like unfinished Product which i will not use and recomened to my friend and family or my customer
It looks like an unfinished product because it is one.
So Mozilla telemetry and using Google’s Chrome engine makes this nothing special. I would rather just use the native browser and add extensions if I want privacy improvements.
…except it doesn’t use Blink, it uses Gecko like all of Mozilla’s web browsers.
I really like the collections feature
No, I haven’t tried it. And, won’t try it until it supports add-ons.
I agree. Add-ons are a must-have feature for me- and preferably not just add-ons, but fully featured ones like UBlock Origin that support unlimited filters and so on and so forth.
At the very minimum, if they don’t have real add-ons, they will need that built in ad-blocker that they mentioned in the article in order to achieve feature parity with Edge for Android. I see in the screenshots that there is a theme selector, which presumably includes a dark theme, which is already on par with Edge for Android in that category (And if their dark theme is the first to load on subsequent launches after the preference is set, it will be an improvement in that area over now, where their personas offer dark theme type things, but it always blinks bright white before it loads the persona each time the browser is launched from a totally closed state. But, ideally, offer both, and fix personas to launch immediately on load while you’re at it. :) )
The problem is that if they don’t go whole hog on significant third-party add-on APIs, they will lack parity with… Firefox for Android. That’s right, the next generation could be a huge step back from the last, nevermind matching those features and adding more, which should be the goal.
Firefox is my default Android browser, not the Preview, the current one. I’m happy to stick with it and give it a shot post-switch if by the time the preview replaces the current browser, there are robust add-ons, but if there is not robust add-on support when the one becomes the other, I’ll be looking to find a new browser. About the only thing that would keep me at that point is the utter lack of any other mobile browser with a robust add-on system, which I hope someone would take as a challenge and a market opportunity if Firefox drops the ball. The Android browser market is much less competitive and developed than the desktop browser market in a lot of respects. Firefox is really the only decent one. Someone could easily step in with a fork or an entirely new browser, especially if Firefox drops the ball and drops important existing features that right now only they offer on Android.
I understand that features may and probably will still be added to the new version before the mainline Android Firefox is replaced with what is now the preview or beta version. So, this isn’t intended to make the preview devs feel bad or to trash Mozilla. All I’m really saying is, if they are on the fence about add-ons, please get off the fence by the time it replaces the browser I am using to type this, so that I can continue to use the type of extensions I love and am accustomed to (And give add-on devs time to make ports if necessary). Until then, I’ll read GHacks articles about the progress of the preview, but I’ll stick with actually browsing on what I’ve got.
Just putting a built-in add-on blocker in it like Edge rather than having add-ons is better than nothing, but would be a real downgrade from what Firefox has today. When I had to use Edge on my phone during the great Firefox extension outage weekend of 2019, I liked that Edge at least had that (Unlike Chrome for Android), but at the same time, I missed being able to hand pick additional elements to block on pages and what seemed like limited functionity in other areas related to the built in add-blocker. It seemed like Edge was giving us 3/4 of an ad-blocker. Firefox right now has 4/4s of one, why go to 0/4 or even 3/4 of one?
> It is not 100% certain that extensions support will be integrated in Firefox Preview for Android.
Without it, it’s basically a useless piece of junk and I could just use Chrome.
So thank you Mozilla for destroying the last major browser that had addons on Android.
Genius.
It appears Tom and Pedro don’t like peoples opinions so they troll… Smells like another mozilla fail. They should have brought the whole enchilada to the table instead they left out some of the ingredients and expected people to like the taste.
@Dilly Dilly
Silly Silly.
Maybe wait for the official instead of the Beta to start bitching?
Kiwi Browser does support Chrome extensions proper and is based on Chromium.
Which part of “Preview” and “The new version lacks some features that Mozilla wants it to support. The organization made it clear that it won’t release the new version until it supports all major features of the old version” is too difficult for you to understand? Or are you just trolling?
Wow. Fenix.
There’s a name I haven’t heard in a long time.
Horrible. It even comes with mozilla’s awesomesauce, Telemetry! By default on: imgur.com/6rAqCTH
@Yuliya, @Iron Heart
Thank you both for your answers. I asked because since 2014 every time I read about Tor, Tor Browser is right there along with activists, censorship and the like. Even Snowden. So, it was my understanding that Firefox couldn’t be that bad if it is trusted as a base for TB (which it is included in an OS like Tails.)
I accept Firefox as it is requires some of ghacks user.js, using policies.json, removing all features folder and adding a couple of domains to hosts file. However, taming Chrome is a hurdle too; you even need to go to the Registry to stop Google Update and delete software reporter every time it gets installed.
Even with all these inconveniences, I’m using both. By the way, I never tried Brave, so I’ll give a chance to see what it brings to the table.
@Yuliya, @Iron Heart
If Firefox is a sh*tty browser, why is Tor Project using it? Taking into account they adjusted a few things. The base is still Firefox. Why trust it for Tor if there are other better open source alternatives. Can anybody elaborate on this? Thank you.
@Steve
The Tor project uses Firefox as its base, that is correct. However, if you monitor their development, you will realize that they change almost every privacy-related about:config setting, because Mozilla usually doesn‘t decide in favor of privacy. The fact that the Tor project has to heavily modify the configuration says it all.
Besides, Chromium browsers like Brave can also access the Tor network. Just saying.
It’s probably cost-efficient to keep going with this bandaid solution for as long as possible, before, inevitably, the entire ship sinks: imgur.com/B8RAxeo
Btw, TBB and TOR are different things. You can bring whatever yo want over the TOR network: imgur.com/hhhf9Bc
You can even bring Windows’s Update Engine if you must, quite nothing stops you from doing so.
Just check about:config. I have appproxiemately half of the telemetry options set to false. Which corresponds to the telemetry options that I disabled.
Mozilla needs telemetry from users. Google gather telemetry, Microsoft gather telemetry, Apple gathers telemetry and I bet you surf Facebook or Instagram.
Mozilla is not for profit and it launches a great product. If you’re so worried swith off telemetry in about:config instead of being a fucking cancer in every Firefox topic.
>Google gather telemetry, Microsoft gather telemetry, Apple gathers telemetry
neither of these companies claim to care about user’s privacy, unlike mozilla. don’t you think mozilla should be held at a higher standard solely due to their own (false) claims?
you’d lose that bet, careful next time, i use VK.
Another year of this?
Telemetry on-by-default is not privacy-friendly.
It also skews the data towards the usage habits of people who don’t customize or configure their browsers very much and away from people who care about privacy. The decisions made from that data tend to be at the expense of the more advanced users who do disable telemetry, e.g. removing features that “nobody uses”.
Right, it isn’t really about privacy. The privacy part is en-vogue, but basic telemetry for a complex piece of software is necessary.
The problem with Firefox is that the entire development plans are based on this limited data, and they stop interacting with the community. Then even go so far as to blame the power users for disabling this, because “how would we even know you exists”.
Telemetry should only be for detecting basic things, like fundamental hardware incompatibilities, widespread bugs, etc.
But when you see that Mozilla even tried to guess the telemetry-off population you know it’s not anymore about this kind of telemetry, it is about user survaillance, so that lazy devs don’t need to think on their own anymore.
They have even suggested to include survaillance about which sites people browse, which is the last thing that they do not know about their users.
@user17843: “basic telemetry for a complex piece of software is necessary.”
I disagree. It’s cheap and convenient, certainly, but hardly necessary.
Just turn it off then genius.
So they can then turn it back on remotely?
“https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/21/mozilla-wants-to-estimate-firefoxs-telemetry-off-population/”
@Yuliya is correct. I mean, type in “telemetry” in about:config and take a look at the abundance of telemetry junk in modern desktop Firefox. Yet people still tout this as the most privacy-friendly browser (it’s not). Gotta give it to Pale Moon, they at least remove that junk. Ungoogled Chromium and Brave are also better.
Pro-Firefox trolls: Without this telemetry-infested junkware, the Internet will die! Mozilla doesn’t work for Google despite being financed by them! Use Firefox now!
What a joke.
While I agree that Pale Moon for desktop is a nice browser, they don’t have an official Android version, so its not really relevant to a discussion of Firefox *for Android*. Pale Moon did have one back in the day, but had to discontinue it due to lack of personpower to maintain it (Plus they didn’t have someone involved who really specialized in writing code for Android- their top people are better at Windows and Linux coding, openly asked for someone to volunteer to take point on the Android version who was expert at Android coding, and no one volunteered. Maybe they’d bring it back if someone volunteered and discussed a vision for it.), and it is now unsupported.
Brave does have a mobile browser for Android, so its relevant to the discussion, but it has no add-ons, right? So, if you, like me, care about add-ons, the current Firefox *for Android* is better- right now. If this preview replaces the main build and hasn’t added add-ons by then, we can revisit this, but right now its just a beta (And betas are the time to be loud about wanting features that aren’t in the beta to be added so it it is a good replacement for the non-beta, I’m just saying that right now there are add-ons if you are using the current real FF and not previews, betas, or testing versions, which are by definition unfinished- if it were finished, it wouldn’t be a beta.).
Does Ungoogled Chromium have an Android port with a robust add-on ecosystem? Honest question, I’ve not heard a whole lot about UC in general, though the name rings a bell.
I don’t know your problem with Telemetry since it’s to the advantage of us users. Otherwise our usage of the browser can’t be respected when it comes to making decisions. The people whining about Telemetry are the first whining when Mozilla removes a feature because “nobody uses it”. But yeah, the name “Yuliya” is known on Ghacks for negative comments, so I expected to read exactly this. ;-)
Everyone can disable Telemetry, so what?
I don’t agree with the argument that telemetry is something users should be forced enable or forced not to disable just to “count” toward Mozilla’s future decision making about the browser. Yes, telemetry does provide Mozilla a way of gaging what a large portion of their users do or do not do in detail that is fairly impeccable as being accurate, which I suppose in their shoes, if the inclusion of telemetry was a given that couldn’t be changed, I would of course use to help me determine some aspects of a browser’s future, but as one of several sources of information, not the only source.
There are other ways of figuring out what the preferences of power users who disable telemetry are. Ask them. Read articles, comment sections, and forums. Heck, create a “suggestion box” type thing where people can voluntarily submit their top five “must keep” features or top five suggestions for improving the browser via a web forum or via email. Invite the editors and top writers from various tech websites to participate in an online or offline focus group. Look at the numbers of downloads for extensions and see what kind of insight that gives (They’ll still know that x number of people downloaded x extension even if some of those people have telemetry turned off). They could also use common sense that their prior success was based on appealing to power users while still being accessible to everyone else, and make sure they aren’t cutting things just because casual users who keep their telemetry on ignore them. The power users drive wider spread adoption.
Given the way Firefox’s user-share has plummeted, I think it’s clear that relying only on telemetry to make decisions, if that’s the approach they are taking, isn’t working, and they should consider a more expansive approach.
It’s not up to the user to let Mozilla spy on their web browsing on an on-going basis to be heard, it’s up to Mozilla to try to understand even the users who turn such things off in other ways that users find less obtrusive (Such as asking them), if Mozilla has any interest in keeping those users.
@Tom
Why are all Firefox fanboys on gHacks named Tom? Is Tom Riddle also amongst you?
“Telemetry is to the advantage of users”… LOL, Mozilla could also listen to their community, or actually hire competent developers.
I wish I could disable your comments, because I associate the name “Tom” with useless junk posts.
@Iron Heart
I hate Firefox fanboys, they always think they are better than everyone else, because they use a crippled browser that still steals your data and sells it for money, but acts like they don’t. I mean, how gullible and naive you have to be to believe something this simple only because the one who says is is the one you have such high regards for, for no apparent reason.
I use whatever I want and I jump ships all the time. I used to use Chrome, now I use Edge Chromium, later I might use something else, I might even switch to Firefox at one point if it works for me. I have no loyalty for a bunch of lines of code, I have loyalty to the principle of getting my work done by whatever means necessary.
@ Yuliya @ Iron Heart
If you hate Firefox with its telemetry, why don’t you inform the poor misguided Firefox fanboys what wonderful, incredible, Browser you use.
In all the anti FF comments you make, neither of you has ever told us that.
I look forward to being enlightened with detailed reasons why you chose your browser.
@Gary D
Brave, Ungoogled Chromium
Kiwi Browser and / or Bromite on Android. Does that enlighten you?
– more privacy friendly in all cases
– Kiwi can run Chrome extensions on mobile
– Brave & Bromite have adblock by default.
But then, why exactly do I have to justify my choices before users of this junkware?
@ Iron Heart
“But then, why exactly do I have to justify my choices before users of this junkware?”
Because you are always spouting off about Firefox “fanboys”. Now the “fanboys” all know what you are using they can be critical of you in return.
I am sure that the FF “fanboys” will check out your choices and if/when they find privacy and security problems in your “junkware” they will be sure to let you know.
There you go, mister Gary D: imgur.com/vniIMJa
Would you like me to write you a poem as well? A novel maybe; given its final lenght I probably would not be able to compact everything into a poem-sized writing.
It is very odd, however, that you have only noticed this comment of mine, but not my others where I’ve written my alternatives to this piece of junk browser.
Now I would have written that I wonder whether the tunnel vision is a trait of the average mozillian, but I don’t want to sound as if I’m insulting anyone, so I won’t write it…
@ Yuliya
You side stepped the question about which browser(s) you use by writing the facetious, irrelevant, comment below:
“Would you like me to write you a poem as well? A novel maybe; given its final lenght I probably would not be able to compact everything into a poem-sized writing.”
usually, when I see you have commented about FF, I move on to read other posters comments because I KNOW that you and Iron Heart will launch an attack on the Firefox “fanboys”.
“but I don’t want to sound as if I’m insulting anyone” That is exactly what you do in every post you make.
Thus, I have never become aware of which browser(s) you use.
Humour me and list them again please.
NB the link “imgur.com/vniIMJa” generates an error of “not found”. That’s a shame. I would have liked to have seen the insult you were making.
Firefox became so bad in the last year to the point it can’t even access an imgur link? Damn, that’s terrible, it even works in IE.
Guess you won’t be able to sleep tonight ;)
@ Yuliya
There you go, side stepping the question again. You still haven’t said which browser you use.
FYI I’m browsing imgur right now but your link still doesn’t work.
Did you type the link correctly ? :))
So this is not a privacy respecting browser, is what your’re trying to say, right? Ok, I got it.